Department for Transport

Driving: Licensing

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department set targets for the DVLA to ensure that people seeking to apply or reapply for a driving licence for reasons of (a) ill health and (b) following a ban are dealt with expeditiously.

Jesse Norman: The DVLA aims to complete 90% of medical cases within 90 working days and to process applications from those previously banned from driving within 15 working days. The length of time it takes to deal with an application for a driving licence following ill health depends on the medical condition involved, and whether further information is required from medical professionals. In the last financial year, it took an average of 32 working days for the DVLA to make a licensing decision on all medical applications.The DVLA writes to disqualified drivers 56 days before their ban is due to expire to invite them to reapply for their driving licence.

Biofuels

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timetable is for the publication of the Government’s response to the consultation on E10 petrol, consumer protection and fuel pump labelling.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the halting of production by Vivergo and other British bioethanol manufacturers on the sustainability of the British bioethanol industry.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received from the British bioethanol industry on the sustainability of that sector; and if he will make a statement.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will meet with the hon. Member for Scunthorpe and representatives of the British bioethanol industry.

Jesse Norman: It is the Department’s hope to publish a formal response to the consultation paper, “E10 petrol, consumer protection and fuel pump labelling”, in the New Year. The Department has received a number of representations on behalf of the British bioethanol industry since the consultation closed in September. I spoke to the Managing Director of Vivergo Fuels shortly after the company announced cessation of production at their plant in Hull, and am happy to meet with the hon. Member for Scunthorpe and representatives of the British bioethanol industry. The Government recognises that the domestic bioethanol industry has faced difficult trading conditions in recent months due to increased wheat prices and low bioethanol prices. In increasing targets under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) in April, the Government made clear that moving to E10 fuel could make achieving the UK’s renewable energy targets easier and provide wider economic benefits. It is the Government’s hope that both of the UK bioethanol plants that announced suspensions in production recently will be able to restart production in the future

High Speed Two: Termination of Employment

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many HS2 Ltd personnel have (a) been dismissed, (b) resigned and (c) made redundant in each of the last five years.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Leaving ReasonFY 2018-19*FY 2017-2018FY 2016-2017FY 2015-2016FY 2014-2015Resignation10390875113Dismissal22342Redundancy** 13342800*2018/19 figures are as of 30th November 2018.** Redundancy figures represent compulsory redundancies only

High Speed Two: Grievance Procedures

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the information his Department holds on the number of HS2 Ltd (a) personnel and (b) former personnel that have initiated a grievance process against HS2 Ltd; and what the outcome was of each of those grievance processes.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Secretary of State does not intend to publish such data as the grievance process is managed by HS2 Ltd’s own HR function. It is not appropriate for HS2 Ltd to release information about the outcome of those grievance processes as they relate to individual cases.

High Speed Two: Directors

Dame Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the (a) data his Department holds on the number of HS2 Ltd (i) directors and (ii) non-executive directors in  each of the last five years, and (b) dates of service for each of those individuals.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Information about Director and non-Executive Directors positions is routinely published in HS2 Ltd’s Annual Report and Accounts.

Department for Transport: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many meetings he had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 September and 30 November 2018.

Jesse Norman: The Secretary of State for Transport had one meeting with the Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 September and 30 November 2018.

Emergency Services: Vehicles

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people have died as a result of vehicle pursuits by ambulance and police services in (a) 2017 and (b) in each month since January 2018.

Jesse Norman: There were 5 fatalities in accidents where the contributory factor ‘emergency vehicle on a call’ was reported in Great Britain in 2017. The Department collects data on personal injury road accidents reported to the police, including contributory factors which the police select when they attend the scene. This does not assign blame for the accident but gives an indication of factors the attending officer thought contributed to the accident. Not all accidents are included in the contributory factor data; only accidents where the police attended the scene and reported at least one contributory factor are included. A total of 72 per cent of accidents reported to the police in 2017 in Great Britain met these criteria. Published table RAS50007 provides information on casualties in reported road accidents by contributory factor and severity in Great Britain: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743101/ras50007.ods. Figures for 2018 will be published in 2019.

Railways: Dichloromethane

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what checks his Department makes on the use of the chemical Dichloromethane by rail operators; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones: It is the responsibility of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), as the safety regulator for Britain’s railways, to ensure that the rail industry meets its duties to manage health and safety, including the management of substances hazardous to health.All rail operators are required by law to maintain a safety management system that must include, among other things, risk control measures for managing hazardous substances in the workplace. Rail operators’ safety management systems are routinely inspected by the ORR to ensure that they are fit for purpose.

Ports

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the capacity of English sea ports to facilitate international trade after the UK leaves the EU.

Chris Grayling: The UK ports sector is in an excellent position to facilitate growth in trade, both from the EU and from other countries, after we leave the EU. Several ports have invested strongly in capacity, to handle the largest container ships in global fleets and to adapt to changing patterns of energy generation. We will also see new investment proceeding at other ports such as at Dover Western Docks.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he is taking to reduce the level of air pollution produced by motor vehicles; what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of E10 on the level of air pollution; and will he make a statement.

Richard Harrington: Our mission is to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles, and for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040. The Road to Zero Strategy sets out a clear pathway to zero emissions, to give clarity and certainty to both industry and motorists. By 2030 we want at least half of new cars sold, and as many as 70%, to be ultra low emission, alongside up to 40% of new vans. To achieve this, we are investing nearly £1.5bn‎ between April 2015 and March 2021, with grants available for plug in cars, vans, lorries, buses, taxis and motorcycles, and schemes to support charge point infrastructure at homes and workplaces and on residential streets. In July 2017, Defra published the UK Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations (NO2), setting out how we will achieve compliance in the shortest possible time, supported by a £3.5 billion investment into air quality and cleaner transport. Any assessment made on the effect of the introduction of E10 on the level of air pollution is a matter for the Department for Transport.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Disclosure of Information

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 190909 on Sharing Economy: Conditions of Employment, whether his Department has instituted an inquiry into that leak; and if he will make a statement.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government does not comment on leaks.

Post Offices

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post offices are categorised as suspended.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Bargain Booze: Post Offices

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post office counters have been located in a Bargain Booze store in the last eight years; and how many of those Bargain Booze stores then closed.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Bargain Booze: Post Offices

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of the post office counters that were located in Bargain Booze stores that then closed were relocated in the last eight years; and what the financial cost to the taxpayer was of those relocations.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

WH Smith: Post Offices

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of the 41 Crown post offices in dedicated premises that are earmarked to be franchised and relocated to WHSmith have Applicant Enrolment Identification (AEI) machines; and how many of the AEI machines will be relocated to the franchisee’s stores with the post office counter.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Green Deal Scheme: Appeals

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2018 to Question 179252 on Green Deal Scheme: Appeals, how many appeals referred to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (a) have been resolved and (b) remain outstanding.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2018 to Question 179252 on Green Deal Scheme: Appeals, how many of the 77 outstanding cases that have been referred to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have been with the Secretary of State for (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four, (e) five, (f) six, (g) seven, (h) eight, (i) nine, (j) 10, (k) 11 and (l) 12 months or longer without a final decision having been made.

Claire Perry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 24 October 2018 to Question 179252. The Department is continuing to work through all outstanding cases, and at the end of November a total of ninety are being reviewed.All eligible cases referred to the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy will be considered under The Green Deal Framework (Disclosure, Acknowledgment, Redress etc.) Regulations 2012 (the Regulations). The Department is committed to resolving those cases fairly and as quickly as possible. However, the complex and legal nature of the redress process prescribed by the Regulations and volume of information we receive from consumers means complaints take some time to resolve. The Department has obtained additional support to review cases in order to speed up the process and is aiming to address the backlog of appeals.  Months outstandingNumber of appeals1624394851657383910101011141210Longer than 12 months7

Green Deal Scheme: Appeals

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2018 to Question 179252 on Green Deal Scheme: Appeals, in which constituencies the 77 outstanding green deal cases originated.

Claire Perry: Below is a breakdown by constituency of the ninety outstanding cases received by my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State up until the end of November 2018.ConstituencyNumber of appealsAirdrie and Shotts1Birmingham, Erdington1Birmingham, Hodge Hill1Birmingham, Selly Oak1Birmingham, Yardley2Bradford South1Caerphilly1Cardiff South and Penarth1Carmarthen East and Dinefwr1Central Ayrshire3Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill1Colchester1Corby1Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East5Don Valley1East Dunbartonshire2East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow4East Renfrewshire1East Yorkshire1Edinburgh South1Elmet and Rothwell1Glasgow Central1Glasgow East1Glasgow North1Glenrothes1Jarrow1Kilmarnock and Loudoun8Lanark and Hamilton East1Leeds East1Linlithgow and East Falkirk1Llanelli1Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney1Motherwell and Wishaw1Newport East1North Ayrshire and Arran1North Somerset1North West Leicestershire1Nottingham South1Ogmore3Paisley and Renfrewshire North6Paisley and Renfrewshire South1Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport1Redditch1Rochdale1Romford1Rushcliffe2Rutherglen and Hamilton West7Somerton and Frome1South Holland and The Deepings1Torfaen2Warwick and Leamington1Weaver Vale1Wellingborough1West Dunbartonshire1West Lancashire2Worcester1

Global Navigation Satellite Systems: Costs

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the proposed Global Navigation Satellite System.

Richard Harrington: A UK Global Navigation Satellite System could cost between £3-5 billion over a ten year period. My rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced in August an Engineering Design and Development Phase which will develop plans for a UK system. This will involve developing more detailed cost estimates.

Armed Forces: Global Navigation Satellite Systems

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the UK Armed Forces will be able to access the proposed Global Navigation Satellite System.

Richard Harrington: Global Satellite Navigation Systems have a very wide range of uses and all of the current systems have clear civil, security and defence utility. The UK GNSS would offer additional capabilities for use by the Government including by the Ministry of Defence. The UK Space Agency is leading the Engineering Design and Development Phase announced by my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister in August with the full support of the Ministry of Defence. This phase will develop plans for a possible UK system.

Bargain Booze: Post Offices

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post office counters have been located in a Bargain Booze off-licence in each of the last eight years; and how many Bargain Booze off-licenses that had a post office counter have subsequently closed.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Bargain Booze: Post Offices

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post office counters that were located in a Bargain Booze off-licence that closed were relocated; and what the cost of that relocation was in each of the last eight years.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Post Offices

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of the network of 11,500 post offices are listed as suspended.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Bargain Booze: Post Offices

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post office counters have been located in a Bargain Booze off-licence in each of the last eight years; and how many Bargain Booze off-licenses that had a post office counter have subsequently closed.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to you on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Bargain Booze: Post Offices

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of the post office counters located in Bargain Booze off-licenses that closed in the last eight years have been relocated, and what the cost was of those relocations.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to you on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

WH Smith: Post Offices

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of the 41 Crown post offices that are proposed to be franchised to WH Smith have Applicant Enrolment Identification (AEI) machines; and how many of those AEI machines are planned to be relocated to the franchisee’s stores.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Bargain Booze: Post Offices

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post office counters were located in a Bargain Booze off-license in the last eight years; and what estimate his Department has made of the number of those Bargain Booze off-licenses that have subsequently closed down.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Bargain Booze: Post Offices

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of the post office counters located in Bargain Booze off-licenses that closed in the last eight years were relocated; and at what financial cost was of those relocations.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

WH Smith: Post Offices

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of the 41 Crown post offices in dedicated premises that are earmarked to be franchised and relocated to WH Smith have Applicant Enrolment Identification (AEI) machines; and how many of those AEI machines will be relocated.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The distribution of branches is an operational matter of commercial judgement for Post Office management team. I have therefore asked Paula Vennells, the Group Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Julian Assange

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government's policy is on providing Julian Assange with safe passage to Ecuador.

Sir Alan Duncan: We have been clear that when Mr Assange leaves the Ecuadorean Embassy, all UK legal processes would need to be completed before he could leave the country. Mr Assange understands that the only way to resolve this issue is to leave the Embassy to face UK justice. No-one is above the law.

Nigeria: Social Media

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2018 to Question 195102, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on supporting the Nigerian Government to reduce the spread of false information on social media.

Harriett Baldwin: I have not had any discussions with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on supporting the Nigerian Government to reduce the spread of false information on social media. In October, I discussed the issue with Lai Mohammed, Nigerian Minister for Information and Culture, setting out the steps the British government was taking to regulate use of social media for party political purposes and encouraged steps to tackle misinformation online. The BBC World Service in Nigeria, funded by the British Government, has broadcast a report on Africa Eye called "Like. Share. Kill", which documents how Nigerian police say false information on Facebook is killing people.

Italy: Floods

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assistance his Department has provided to UK nationals as a result of the recent flooding in the coastal regions of Italy.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office was not approached to offer assistance to British Nationals who may have been caught up in the coastal floods. We are aware of two British Nationals who were rescued in Sardinia following the flooding there but they did not approach us for any assistance. FCO travel advice was updated on 29 October with information about the severe weather conditions and a link to local guidance being issued by the local authorities.

China: Ethnic Groups

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has received on the detention of Uighur Muslims in China; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Field: We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the Chinese Government’s deepening crackdown; including credible reports of re-education camps and widespread surveillance and restrictions targeted at ethnic minorities.During China’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council on 6 November, the UK made a statement which described our concern about the treatment of ethnic minorities in China, including Uyghurs. We issued a specific recommendation, calling on China to implement the recommendations by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Xinjiang, and to allow the UN to monitor the implementation. We also raised our concerns about Xinjiang in our Item 4 statement at the September UN Human Rights Council, and we supported the statement of 26 October by the European External Action Service highlighting concerns about Xinjiang.I raised our concerns about Xinjiang with Vice Minister Guo Yezhou during my visit to China on 22 July 2018. The Foreign Secretary also raised our concerns about the region with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to China on 30 July 2018.

International Law

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to strengthen the rules-based international order.

Sir Alan Duncan: The rules-based international system has made the world collectively more prosperous and safe than ever before. Today, upholding and strengthening this system is a priority for the government. We are reinvigorating and expanding the UK's diplomatic network in order to reinforce our friendships and alliances, to defend the values of democracy and human rights, to reform the multilateral architecture where needed, and to reach agreement on new rules in evolving policy areas. This will allow the UK to play a leading role in shaping a rules-based international system fit for the future.

Kuwait: Religious Freedom

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations have been made to the Government of Kuwait on respect for religious freedom in that country.

Alistair Burt: Human rights, including the protection of freedom of religion or belief, is a UK foreign policy priority. As part of our bilateral relationship with Kuwait, we discuss human rights at both ministerial and official level and where we have concerns we raise them with the appropriate authority. We have not made any recent representations to the Government of Kuwait on respect for religious freedom.

Burundi: Crimes of Violence

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 May 2016 to Question 36968, what steps the Government has taken to ensure that the perpetrators of the Gatumba genocide are prosecuted.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK continues to play a role in efforts to resolve the political crisis in Burundi and supports the refugee reintegration in Burundi, working closely with EU and likeminded international partners.The only way to stop attacks like that on Gatumba in 2004 is to break the cycle of instability in the Great Lakes region. We regularly raise human rights and security issues with the Government of Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo Government, including at the UN Security Council on 21 November and the UN General Assembly in September.

Diplomatic Service

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the additional consular staff that will be needed in UK missions as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

Harriett Baldwin: ​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) consular service assists British people living, travelling and working around the world when they are most in need. In the context of EU Exit, we are working to reduce the number of preventable incidents through the provision of clear information to UK people living, working and travelling in the EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states about their rights and access to services. The FCO will continue to provide professional consular assistance to UK nationals, prioritising the most vulnerable. We envisage an increase in enquiries, notarial work, requests for consular assistance and the complexity of consular cases as a result of EU Exit. We are therefore significantly increasing the capacity of the network, including the Global Consular Contact Centre, which handles all telephone and written consular enquiries for our embassies, high commissions and consulates in the EU and EFTA states. The FCO is also planning information campaigns to signpost UK nationals resident and travelling in the EU and EFTA states to practical information on gov.uk.

Syria: Politics and Government

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in Syria; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The security situation in Syria remains very difficult due to military conflict, terrorism, violent crime and human rights abuses and violations. The ceasefire in Idlib, agreed by Turkey and Russia on 17 September, is holding but fragile with some increase in violence in recent weeks. The Global Coalition against Daesh, of which the UK is a leading member, continues to support efforts to defeat Daesh in the north-east of the country. We advise against all travel to Syria.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many meetings he had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 September and 30 November 2018.

Mark Field: ​FCO Ministers have regular meetings with the Department's Chief Scientific Adviser, and her Deputy, I most recently met with the Chief Scientific Advisor on 16 October 2018.

China and Tibet: Journalism

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK journalists have been (a) denied access to and (b) expelled from (i) Tibet and (ii) China in the last five years.

Mark Field: We do not hold statistics of the number of UK journalists who have been denied access to, or expelled from, Tibet and China in the last five years.Access to Tibet by all foreign passport holders is heavily restricted by the Chinese authorities. This includes journalists. We continue to urge the Chinese authorities to lift the visit restrictions imposed on foreigners. The Government regards the Tibet Autonomous Region as part of the People’s Republic of China, and we consistently urge China to respect all fundamental rights, including in Tibet, in line with both its own constitution and the international frameworks to which it is a party.Access to other parts of the People’s Republic of China is more freely given to UK journalists, but under certain restrictions. All UK nationals wishing to visit to travel and work in China should pay close attention to the FCO Travel Advice which is regularly updated.

Jerusalem: Churches

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the (a) Israeli Government and (b) US Administration on the protection of Christian sites of worship in Jerusalem.

Alistair Burt: The UK recognises that Jerusalem holds particular significance for many groups, especially the three Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv and Consulate General in Jerusalem raise issues of religious freedom with the Israeli and Palestinian governments and are in contact with representatives of churches on a range of issues. We continue to encourage Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan as custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem to do all they can to work together to uphold the status quo at all the holy sites in Jerusalem. We have not discussed this issue with the US Administration.

Syria: Military Intervention

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,  what discussions he has had with his Turkish counterpart on the actions of Turkish and allied militia during the occupation of Afrin, and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: Her Majesty's Government discussed Turkish military action in Afrin with the Turkish authorities at the highest levels. We called for de-escalation and the protection of civilians, while recognising Turkey's legitimate interest in the security of its borders. All actors in the Syrian conflict must comply with and fully uphold international conventions and norms. We are clear that any allegations of human rights violations, where there is credible evidence of their occurrence, must be investigated and have previously raised incidents with the Turkish authorities where there were grounds to do so.The Government has already discussed the situation in Afrin extensively, including in a statement to this House by the Minister of State for the Middle East on 12 March 2018.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Court of Justice of the European Union

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to paragraph 83 of the Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom, under which circumstances the Court of Justice of the European Union will (a) have jurisdiction, (b) make binding judgements and (c) make judgements that carry influence in the UK after 29 March 2019.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The UK and the EU agreed in the Political Declaration that the closer and deeper the partnership on law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, the stronger the accompanying commitments. These may include the alignment of rules and the mechanisms for disputes and enforcement, including the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the interpretation of Union law.As per the White Paper, the UK has always made clear that a deep and ambitious level of cooperation on internal security will also need to be underpinned by clear safeguards, such as robust governance arrangements, data protection arrangements and the protection of individual rights.Furthermore, as the Prime Minister has always stated, we will respect the remit of the CJEU where we participate in an EU agency.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Staff

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many full time equivalent staff are employed in his Department.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The required information was published last week on gov.uk as part of our transparency reporting. It can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-exiting-the-european-union-monthly-workforce-management-information-for-2017-and-2018

Gibraltar: Politics and Government

Sir Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what steps the Government has taken to consult the Gibraltarian Government during negotiations for the UK to leave the EU.

Mr Robin Walker: This Government is committed to fully involving Gibraltar as we leave the EU together. Most recently, DExEU Secretary of State, Steve Barclay, and I met the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, on 5 December, and the Prime Minister met him on 15 November. We also meet regularly in the Joint Ministerial Council, our primary forum for engagement, which has met seven times since the referendum.Chief Minister Picardo observed in his statement on 23 October that we have worked “hand in glove” throughout the negotiations on Withdrawal. He described the deal as one which ‘works for Gibraltar’ and welcomed the “unwavering commitment of the United Kingdom that it will negotiate future trade and other arrangements with the EU that work for all of the British family of nations, including Gibraltar.”

Economic Situation: North East

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed Withdrawal Agreement on the economy in the North East.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Government’s analysis, ‘EU Exit: Long-term economic analysis’, considers the long run economic impact of the new relationship with the EU after the economy has adjusted to the changes.The analysis shows that every region, including the North East, would be stronger than under a no deal scenario.

Department of Health and Social Care

Medical Equipment

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on just in time delivery arrangements for medical devices of the UK leaving the EU Customs Union; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond: The Government is working to mitigate the impact of any potential delays at borders in the unlikely event of a no-deal outcome to our negotiations on exiting the European Union. Our planning aims to ensure that from the day the United Kingdom leaves the EU, we will have the necessary resources and contingencies in place to maintain uninterrupted supplies of medical devices, including those delivered to National Health Service trusts on a just in time basis.

NHS Property Board

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff are employed to provide (a) leadership and (b) strategic direction to the NHS as a result of the establishment of the NHS Property Board.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what accountability procedures have been established in relation to staff providing (a) leadership and (b) strategic direction to the NHS  as a result of the establishment of the NHS Property Board.

Stephen Hammond: No staff were employed as a direct result of the establishment of the NHS Property Board. Chaired by the Parliamentary under Secretary of State (Lord O’Shaughnessy), the NHS Property Board brings together senior representatives from the Department, NHS England, NHS Improvement, wider Government, Community Health Partnerships and NHS Property Services to provide leadership and strategic direction for the system on estates matters. Member organisations are accountable to the NHS Property Board for delivering in line with its agreed objectives, though this does not affect the existing statutory duties and accountabilities of the individual member organisations and their staff.

Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 174768, what steps his Department is taking in respect of Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships which have not produced an estates strategy.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 174766, what steps his Department is taking to assess the quality of the 42 Sustainability and Transformation Partnership estate strategies.

Stephen Hammond: All 42 sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) submitted an estate strategy in July 2018. These strategies have been reviewed by the joint NHS England/NHS Improvement Strategic Estates Planning (SEP) team, and subsequently placed into one of four ‘bands’ overall in terms of their quality and maturity. STPs have received feedback on their strategies from SEP through their regional teams, indicating their banding and providing guidance on how their estate strategy could be further improved.

Community Health Partnerships and NHS Property Services

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November 2018 to Question 174765 on NHS Property Services and Community Health Partnerships: staff, what steps he plans to take to align the 16 hub sites to the seven regions recognised by NHS England and NHS Improvement.

Stephen Hammond: NHS Property Services operate throughout England, engaging locally with NHS England and NHS Improvement regional teams no matter where they are physically located. NHS Property Service’s core functions operate out of 16 hub sites which are spread geographically all over the country, and many of which are co-located with NHS England and NHS Improvement. These hubs allow NHS Property Service to work closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement, both locally and nationally.

Accident and Emergency Departments: Ambulance Services

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve handover times between paramedics and hospital staff.

Stephen Hammond: NHS Improvement and NHS England are taking a joint approach to improve patient handover times from ambulance services to Emergency Departments. Key aspects include:- the identification of regional leads for handover performance, holding National Health Service providers to account for improved performance;- Emergency Care Improvement Teams supporting 42 challenged acute trusts with identified handover delay issues to improve performance;- the issuing of revised, detailed hospital handover guidelines, focussing responsibility on the wider system to address handover delays, including clear escalation procedures; and- improved monitoring and reporting of patient handover delays.

Mental Health Services: Finance

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the findings of the IPPR report entitled Fair funding for mental health, published in October 2018, whether the Government’s NHS Long Term Plan will increase funding for mental health services.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Chancellor announced in October that the National Health Service will increase mental health investment by at least £2 billion a year in real terms by 2023/24. Improving mental health is at the heart of this Government’s agenda and this is another step in our ambition to achieve parity between physical and mental health care. NHS leaders are producing a new ten-year plan, led by clinicians and professionals, and supported by local health and care systems across the country. We expect the plan to be published later this year and as such decisions are still being taken on the exact content of the plan.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Digital's publication, Cervical screening programme England 2017-18, published on 27 November 2018, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the change in the number of eligible women taking up such screening in the last 21 years.

Steve Brine: NHS England has reviewed the data from 2013 showing the continuing gradual national and international decline in the five-year coverage. Assessments for the decline were done in partnership with key stakeholders Public Health England (PHE) and Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust. NHS England hosted a spotlight session in April 2016 which focussed on gaining insight into the reasons why women do or do not attend for screening. This suggested that ease of access together with attitudinal changes to informed choice, may contribute to this widespread reduction in uptake. Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust published a report in January 2018 suggesting that some young women did not attend cervical screening appointments because they were embarrassed about their body, while others did not think the test was important and were not at risk because they led healthy lifestyles. NHS England and PHE have therefore modified the commissioning levers and communication processes, for example through supporting Jo’s Trust in the Time to Screen campaign and the development of a new ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign for early 2019 promoting uptake of cervical screening. NHS England has supported the Cancer Alliances who bring together local senior clinical and managerial leaders representing the whole cancer patient pathway across a specific geography, and have a general role in improving early diagnosis. In turn they have developed specific plans to improve uptake rates in screening programmes as part of that agenda with cervical screening considered a priority area. Cancer Research UK and Macmillan general practitioners (GPs) are also being utilised to provide awareness and training, with work and focus groups to target reducing inequalities among women over 50 and women from Eastern European countries a specific focus in one region. The role that sexual health clinics can play in providing access to screening among vulnerable women via an opportunistic offer of screening is being considered. Training of GP receptionists is underway to improve ease of access to a screening appointment, while a toolkit has been developed to reduce the inequality in uptake among women with a learning disability. In addition, NHS England recently announced that Professor Sir Mike Richards has been asked to lead a review of cancer screening programmes which will consider ways to increase uptake of cervical screening.

Smoking

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department still plans to reduce adult smoking prevalence to 12 per cent by 2022.

Steve Brine: The Government remains firmly committed to achieving the ambitions set out in the Tobacco Control Plan for England 2017-2022, including the ambition to reduce the adult smoking prevalence from 15.5% to 12% by 2022.

Hospitals: Admissions

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many emergency admissions to hospital came from a (a) care home setting and (b) nursing home setting in 2017-18.

Caroline Dinenage: Data is not available in the requested format.

Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of people waited six months or longer for a mental health assessment in each of the last five years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This information is not available in the format requested.

Suicide

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people that (a) have attempted and (b) stated that they have considered suicide as a result of not being able to access mental health services.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department does not collect data on people who have considered or attempted suicide as a result of not being able to access mental health services. Suicide prevention is a priority for this Government, and this Government is also implementing the first access and waiting times for mental health. The National Health Service is meeting or on track to meet these first standards.

Doctors: Pensions

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the change in the pension cap on the number of (a) consultants and (b) GPs leaving the NHS.

Stephen Hammond: Membership data from the NHS Pension Scheme shows the number of hospital doctors and general practitioners (GPs) claiming their pension earlier than their normal retirement age. We cannot identify consultants separately, who belong to the hospital doctor group. This group also contains associate specialists and doctors in training. However, claiming a National Health Service pension does not necessarily mean the individual has left NHS service permanently. The 'retire and return' employment flexibility enables NHS employers to support skilled and experienced staff who may otherwise retire and leave service, to continue working longer. The following table shows the number of hospital doctors and GPs claiming their NHS pension on a voluntary early retirement basis from the 1995 NHS Pension Scheme.Scheme YearHospital doctorsGPs2010-112864432011-123155132012-133875912013-144067462014-154537392015-164946952016-174907212017-18424588

Doctors: Qualifications

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 196142 on Locums: Qualifications, what elements of Sir Keith Pearson’s review entitled Taking revalidation forward need legislative change to be implemented; what legislation needs to be amended; whether the Government assessed whether it should implement those changes; and with reference to the Zholia Alemi case whether the Government plans to make those changes.

Stephen Hammond: Sir Keith Pearson’s review of medical revalidation, Taking Revalidation Forward (TRF), was published in January 2017. One of his recommendations was that: “The Departments of Health, in consultation with the GMC, should review the RO Regulations with a view to establishing a prescribed connection to a designated body for all doctors who need a licence to practise in the UK. They should also review the criteria for prescribed connections for locums on short-term placements.” As recommended by TRF, the Department is working with the General Medical Council, NHS England and other stakeholders to assess whether any amendments are needed to the Medical Profession (Responsible Officer) Regulations 2010 and 2013. No decision has yet been made. Any changes to the Medical Profession (Responsible Officer) Regulations 2010 and 2013 would require legislative change and would be subject to Parliamentary time.

Mental Health Services: Finance

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February 2018 to Question 125617, on Mental Health Services: Finance, what independent academic research informed the funding formulae for the allocation of funding to clinical commissioning groups.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The formulae recommended by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation are based on research. References to the research and other relevant publications are provided in Annexes 2 and 3 of the Technical Guide to Allocation Formulae and Pace of Change for 2016-17 to 2020-21 revenue allocations to clinical commissioning groups and commissioning areas which is published on NHS England’s website at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/technical-guide-to-allocation-formulae-and-pace-of-change-for-2016-17-to-2020-21-revenue-allocations-to-clinical-commissioning-groups-and-commissioning-areas/ The principle research paper, ‘Developing the Mental Health Funding Formula for Allocations to General Practices’, can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213333/ACRA201218A-Developing-the-Mental-Health-Funding-Formula-For-Allocations-to-General-Practices.pdf

Hospitals: Admissions

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of emergency admissions to hospital of people over the age of 65 and receiving home care in each of the last eight years.

Caroline Dinenage: This data is not collected centrally.

Mental Health Services: Training

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether additional funding has been made available to clinical commissioning groups to support new Improving Access to Psychological Therapies trainees in the last year.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Implementing the Five Year Forward View, published by NHS England in 2016, includes the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies workforce expansion funding profile between 2016/17 and 2020/21. In the first two years, funding was held centrally; from 2018/19 funding moved into local commissioning baseline allocations. From 2018/19, baseline funding is being used to provide salary support for trainees, with Health Education England funding all course fees for 2,000 trainees.

Mental Illness

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy of the findings of the report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services entitled Policing and Mental Health, published on 26 November 2018.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department welcomes the Policing and Mental Health report published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and its recommendations for improving the ways of working between health services and the police in responding to mental health crises and working together to manage any undue burden that may be placed on the police. The National Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat ensured that every local area has a mental health crisis care concordat action plan in place to ensure no-one experiencing a mental health crisis is turned away. We are considering the future priorities of the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat at a national and local level. The interim report of the independent review of the Mental Health Act 1983, published in May, identified responding to mental health crises and the role of the police and health services as an area to be explored. The final report of the independent review was published on 6 December 2018 and carefully considers recommendations in this area and their implications on future policies. We expect to see improvements to mental health crisis services set out in the National Health Service long-term plan to include comprehensive mental health support being available in every major accident and emergency, children and young peoples’ crisis teams in every part of the country, more mental health ambulances, more ‘safe havens’ in the community and a 24-hour mental health crisis hotline.

Department for International Development

South Sudan: Humanitarian Aid

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of humanitarian access in South Sudan; and what steps her Department is taking to support the transitional Government to improve humanitarian access in South Sudan.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent representations she has made to her counterpart in South Sudan on securing unhindered, safe, secure and uninterrupted humanitarian access as as a priority.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent representations she has made to her counterpart in South Sudan on tackling the bureaucratic impediments to humanitarian agencies in that country.

Harriett Baldwin: Despite commitments made in the peace agreement signed on 12 September, physical and bureaucratic impediments continue to obstruct the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid in South Sudan.All parties continue to obstruct aid delivery, including the Government of South Sudan, which the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates was responsible for nearly half (44%) of all incidents in October this year.The continued obstruction of aid, whether physical or bureaucratic, is completely unacceptable and acts of violence against those delivering lifesaving assistance are barbaric. Alongside our international partners and the UN, Ministers and senior officials are engaging with South Sudan’s leaders at the highest level to emphasise that the immediate removal of all obstructions, physical and bureaucratic, must be a priority. The UK Special Representative also raises our concerns regularly as part of his engagement with the region. We continue to urge all parties to abide by the commitments they have made to ensure full, safe, unhindered humanitarian access throughout South Sudan.

South Sudan: Foreign Aid

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with her counterpart in the US Administration on its review of financial assistance to South Sudan; what information her Department holds on the options under consideration; and the current progress on that review.

Harriett Baldwin: The US Government announced in May this year that it would initiate a review of its assistance programmes to South Sudan. While the detail of options under consideration has not been shared with the UK Government, we continue to engage closely with the US Government, and are committed to working with our Troika and international partners to address the continued suffering of the South Sudanese people.

Department for International Development: Secondment

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff in her Department are seconded to each Government Department.

Harriett Baldwin: There are currently 93 DFID Staff Members loaned to Other Government Departments. The Breakdown by Department is as follows:BEIS – 5Cabinet Office – 8DCMS – 1Department for International trade – 3Dept of Health & social care – 3DExEU – 1DFE – 2FCO – 61Home Office – 5Northern Ireland office – 2ONS – 2

Department for International Development: Staff

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff in her Departmental have joint reporting responsibilities with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Harriett Baldwin: The information required to answer this question is not held centrally, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Whilst it is safe to say that DFID Staff Members currently loaned to FCO have joint reporting responsibilities between DFID and FCO due to the nature of those relationships, we are unable to provide further information on staff more broadly. Each DFID Employee has one primary reporting line within DFID and it is information about those reporting relationships which is captured centrally. Some staff may have a secondary reporting line in to FCO but such relationships are managed at a local level and, as such, to draw that information from each individual department within DFID would involve disproportionate costs.

Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many Departmental staff are working on the conflict, stability and security fund.

Harriett Baldwin: The Conflict, Security and Stability Fund (CSSF) employs 483 programme funded administrative staff. As at 31 March 2018, 57 DFID staff worked on CSSF programmes (12% of overall CSSF staffing), working closely with colleagues from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ministry of Defence, Home Office, National Crime Agency, Stabilisation Unit and the Department for Transport.

Yemen: Overseas Aid

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to assist (a) refugees from Yemen and (b) internally displaced people in that country.

Alistair Burt: The UK has been at the forefront of the humanitarian response in Yemen and focusses on addressing the critical needs of people inside the country, including those who have been internally displaced by the conflict. In April this year, the UK announced £170 million in response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen for this Financial Year. There are far fewer Yemenis displaced across borders than other situations in the world due to geography and poverty. There is for example a refugee settlement in Djibouti of around 2,000 people - a number which has remained stable in recent years. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimate that up to three million people have been internally displaced since the conflict began in Yemen in 2015, with over 450,000 displaced from and within Hodeidah governorate between 1 June and 23 October 2018. The UK is providing £36m to IOM and UNHCR to help over 21,000 displaced people buy vital food through cash transfers, and enabling access to clean water, primary health care and support in response to sexual violence. Furthermore, in July this year DFID flew in 3,000 tents as well as thousands more blankets, solar lanterns, and kitchen sets into Aden to help with emergency needs in Hodeidah governorate.

India: Overseas Aid

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much Official Development Assistance was allocated to programmes run by (a) non-governmental organisations, (b) other private bodies, (c) charities and (d) international organisations in India in 2017-2018.

Alistair Burt: Official Statistics for International Development track bilateral official development assistance (ODA) expenditure through the following channels; donor governments, multilateral organisations, non-governmental organisations, recipient governments, the private sector and other. In India, during calendar year 2017, £1.5m of bilateral ODA was spent through multilateral organisations, £4.4m through non-governmental organisations and £22m through private bodies. Additional information is available in the Statistics for International Development, published on 29 November 2018. Figures for total UK attributed share of multilateral core funding for 2017 are not yet available.

European Development Fund

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that UK-based organisations that access funds from the European Development Fund will have access to alternative funding after the UK leaves the EU.

Penny Mordaunt: Under a future partnership, any UK financial contribution to EU programmes would require eligibility for UK entities to bid for and implement relevant programmes. DFID continues to regularly consult stakeholders regarding any issues they faced with regards to access to EU funding.

EU Aid

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of UK-based organisations on access to  funding from the EU Development Cooperation Instrument after the UK leaves the EU.

Penny Mordaunt: DFID continues to regularly consult stakeholders regarding any issues they faced with regards to access to EU funding. Under a future partnership, any UK financial contribution to EU programmes would require eligibility for UK entities to bid for and implement relevant programmes.

Overseas Aid

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress she has made on the national conversation to which she referred in her speech of 9 October 2018 entitled The future of UK aid post-Brexit.

Penny Mordaunt: DFID will be holding a national conversation in 2019 to generate more information about how and to what extent British people want their savings and pensions to be invested in line with their values including the Sustainable Development Goals and ending poverty. This will include research and public outreach as well as discussions with the private sector, academia, think tanks and NGOs.

Overseas Aid

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to her speech of 9 October 2018, entitled The future of UK aid post-Brexit, what progress she has made on supporting members of the public to invest in poverty reduction.

Penny Mordaunt: DFID will be holding a national conversation in 2019 to generate more information about how and to what extent British people want their savings and pensions to be invested in line with their values including the Sustainable Development Goals and ending poverty. This will include research and public outreach as well as discussions with the private sector, academia, think tanks and NGOs.

Department for Education

Schools: Finance

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the staffing budget for schools has been in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: The Department does not allocate funding specifically for staffing. Schools are best placed to make decisions about how to use their funding to deliver the best outcomes for their pupils.The total funding allocated through the schools block of the dedicated schools grant in each of the last five years is shown below:YearDedicated schools grant, schools block funding (in millions)2014-15£30,6552015-16£32,1682016-17£32,6502017-18£33,0942018-19£33,684[1]  [1] This figure is not directly comparable to previous years as the central schools services block was introduced in 2018-19. Prior to 2018-19, much of that funding was provided through the schools block. Re-baselining was carried out in this year due to the introduction of the national funding formula, which led to some funding movements between blocks.

Academies: Standards

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of academy schools that were rated (a) inadequate and (b) requires improvement before being granted academy status have not been subject to an inspection.

Nadhim Zahawi: This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Voluntary Schools

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, under what circumstances the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) will be the statutory decision maker for proposals to establish a new voluntary-aided schools, and whether the OSA has the ability to override a decision made by a local authority.

Nick Gibb: In line with the existing legislation, there are two situations in which the Schools Adjudicator would decide whether to approve a voluntary-aided school proposal. The first situation is if the local authority has rejected a proposal. In this situation, the proposer can appeal to the Schools Adjudicator. The Schools Adjudicator will then make a fresh decision which will override the decision made by the local authority. The second situation is if a local authority has failed to make a decision within two months of the end of the representation period, which is a stage in the statutory process. In this situation, the local authority must refer the proposal to the Schools Adjudicator to be decided.

Religion: Education

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to prevent state-funded schools making inadequate provision for Religious Education.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consequential provisions are in place for the leaderships of state-funded schools which do not make statutory Religious Education available to all their pupils.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of current methods for securing the provision of Religious Education in state-funded schools.

Nick Gibb: Religious education remains compulsory for all state funded schools, including academies and free schools, at all key stages, and it is part of schools’ activity to meet their legal duty to promote young people’s spiritual, moral and cultural development. Where the Department is made aware that schools are not fulfilling their legal duties, it will investigate. If an individual is concerned that a school is not meeting its duty to provide religious education, they should follow that school’s complaint procedure in the first instance. If the complaint is not resolved, then the issue can be escalated to the Department’s School Complaints Unit for maintained schools, or the Education and Skills Funding Agency for academies, free schools, university technical colleges or studio schools. Information about complaint procedures for schools can be found at www.gov.uk/complain-about-school. The Secretary of State for Education has a range of powers to ensure schools comply with their statutory obligations. The exact powers used will depend on the nature of the statutory duty in question and the potential impact of any failure to comply. The powers used could include a direction under 497 of the Education Act 1996, a performance and standards warning notice under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and a referral to Ofsted for an inspection. Where academies are subject to the same statutory duties as maintained schools, the Secretary of State for Education has powers to enforce compliance via the terms of the funding agreement.

Schools: Air Pollution

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support the monitoring of air quality in every primary school.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support the monitoring of air quality in every educational institution in the UK.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education does not currently monitor air quality in primary schools or other educational institutions. The Department has recently published guidance (BB101) on achieving good indoor air quality in new and refurbished schools. BB101 promotes best practice in controlling both external and internal pollutants and setting maximum standards for levels of pollutants in classrooms.The published guidance for school design and construction can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-design-and-construction.

Schools: Bullying

Naz Shah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the level of bullying in schools; and whether there has been an increase in the level of bullying of BAME children in schools.

Nick Gibb: Harassment or bullying of any kind is completely unacceptable and abhorrent in any setting including schools. All schools are legally required to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. Schools have a role in promoting community cohesion and integration and are required to support pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and to promote fundamental British values. This is a priority for the Government and the Department working with the sector to support them in this role, including, for example, encouraging social mixing across schools.Earlier this year an extension was announced to the Department’s anti-bullying grant programme, which is now providing over £2.8 million of funding between September 2016 and March 2020, to four anti-bullying organisations that support schools to tackle bullying. This includes projects targeting bullying of particular groups such as those with special educational need and disabilities and those who are victims of hate related to bullying, along with a project to report bullying online.Whilst there is no legal requirement on schools to record and report incidents of bullying the department uses evidence from surveys as an indicator of the prevalence of bullying.This includes the Department’s omnibus survey of pupils and their parents/carers. The latest report (September 2018[1]) shows an overall reduction in reports of bullying compared to the previous year, with 37% of pupils surveyed reporting being a victim of bullying at least once in the last year, compared to 45% of pupils the previous year.There was an increase in the proportion of pupils who reported being bullied at least once a month in the last year because of their race, nationality or ethnicity (3%, compared to 1% the previous year).Other surveys used by the department include Bullying in England - a report based on analysis of the ONS crime survey for England and Wales (published November 2018);[2] and the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) 2 (wave 3 published June 2018).[3] [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupils-and-their-parents-or-carers-omnibus-wave-1-survey.[2].https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bullying-in-england-april-2013-to-march-2018.[3]https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/715469/Bullying-Evidence_from_LSYPE2__wave_3.pdf.

Teachers: Recruitment

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on advertising for new recruits for teacher training courses in 2017-18.

Nick Gibb: The estimated amount spent on advertising for new recruits for teacher training courses in the financial year 2017-18 was £12,180,000.This estimate includes advertising campaign costs such as production, research and purchased media space in TV, newspapers, online and social media.The approved marketing budget for teacher recruitment sanctioned through the Cabinet Office Professional Assurance process has increased in recent years. Competition to attract graduates to teaching has intensified due to a strong economy and high levels of employment. The Department has increased spending on advertising because of a need to encourage more people into the profession.

Disability: Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to update the statutory guidance Safeguarding Disabled Children.

Nadhim Zahawi: We do not have any immediate plans to update the ‘Safeguarding disabled children’ (2009) guidance, although we will keep this under review.The current core statutory requirements for the safeguarding of all children, including disabled children, are set out in ‘Working together to safeguard children’ (2018): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2. Social workers may still find the 2009 guidance useful in guiding their practice when working with disabled children.

Schools: Finance

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the timeframe is for schools to receive the additional funding announced in the Budget 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the timeframe is for schools to receive the additional one-off funding announced in Budget 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Department is allocating an additional £400 million capital funding to schools and other eligible educational institutions in 2018–19 to spend on capital projects which meet their own priorities. This funding is in addition to the £1.4 billion of condition allocations already provided this year to those responsible for maintaining school buildings. This supports the Government’s priority of ensuring the school estate is well maintained and helps provide a high-quality education. The Department plans to publish a calculator in December, so that schools can estimate their allocation and make plans to spend the money. Individual allocations will be published in January, with the funding distributed shortly afterwards. An average primary school is expected to receive £10,000 and an average secondary school, £50,000.

Teachers: Pay

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the pay settlement is for teachers in 2019-20; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding his Department has allocated to schools for the teacher`s pay settlement in 2019-20; and if will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Department confirmed the teachers’ pay award on 24 July 2018. This included a 3.5% uplift to the main pay range for classroom teachers that will raise starting salaries significantly and increase the competitiveness of the early career pay framework. The upper pay range for higher paid teachers and the leadership pay range were uplifted by 2% and 1.5% respectively. This pay award will run across the 2018-19 academic year, covering 7 months of the financial year 2018-19 and financial year 2019-20. This pay award is covered by a Teachers’ Pay Grant worth £187 million in 2018-19 and £321 million in 2019-20. This grant provides additional funding to schools to cover the difference between the announced uplifts and the 1% award schools would have been expecting and planning for under the previous public sector pay cap.My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education has recently set the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB)’s remit asking for their recommendations on the pay award for 2019-20 academic year. The Department highly values the robust evidence based process undertaken by the STRB in reaching its recommendations on teacher pay, and will be submitting evidence on recruitment and retention and affordability as part of this process. This evidence is due to be published in the coming months.

Students: Housing

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Office for Students on the cost of student accommodation at Higher Education Institutions.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on the finances of students of the increase in the cost of Russell Group Universities halls of residence between 2008 and 2018.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what monitoring of student higher education accommodation costs is undertaken by his Department.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) criteria and (b) guidance his Department has issued to universities on the charging policies and procedures for student accommodation.

Anne Milton: The department has regular discussions with the Office for Students (OfS) on a very wide range of issues of importance to students, including matters relating to accommodation.Higher education providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government; government plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation and does not issue rent charging guidance to universities.Loans for living costs are a contribution towards a student’s living costs while attending university. The student funding system targets the most support at those from the lowest-income families, who need it most.Living costs support increased by 10.3% for eligible students on the lowest incomes in 2016/17 compared to the previous system with further increases of 2.8% for 2017/18 and 3.2% for the current, 2018/19, academic year. We have announced a further 2.8% increase for loans for living costs for the 2019/20 academic year – to a record amount.All universities who wish to charge fees above the basic level are required to have an access and participation plan approved by the OfS. Through these plans, universities can fund bursaries for disadvantaged students, such as care leavers.

Ministry of Justice

Family Law: Judgements

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure the maintenance of mutual recognition of judgements in the area of family law after the UK leaves the EU.

Lucy Frazer: The Political Declaration makes clear that the UK and EU have agreed to explore options for judicial cooperation in matrimonial, parental responsibility and other related matters. This goes further than the arrangements that the EU currently has with any other third country to date in relation to family justice. The precise detail of the agreement will be subject to further negotiation during the implementation period.

Criminal Cases Review Commission

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish the Tailored Review of the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Lucy Frazer: I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 191870 on 23 November 2018.

Legal Representation

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have represented themselves in cases related to (a) divorce, (b) child custody, (c) clinical negligence, (d) welfare, (e) employment, (f) immigration, (g) housing,(h) debt, (i) benefits and (j) education in each year since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: The information requested in these PQs has been requested by Legal Aid Agency case category, however published statistics are available by HM Courts & Tribunals Service jurisdictions.The Department publishes County Court, Family Court and Crown Court figures on defendants or parties with no (or unknown) representation. This data does not represent the number of litigants in person, however, because a party may be without representation for only part of a case. Information on unrepresented defendants in Magistrates’ Courts is not held centrally.Data on the number of parties with and without representation in cases with at least one hearing is published in the Family Court Statistics Quarterly, and trend analysis since 2011 is also given. The latest edition is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2018Figures on the number of no (or unknown) representation in the Crown Court, including trends since 2010, are published in the quarterly publication at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2018Figures on the number of civil defended claims with and without representation are published in the quarterly publication at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-justice-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2018

Prosecutions

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases have been brought to court related to (a) divorce, (b) child custody, (c) clinical negligence, (d) welfare, (e) employment, (f) immigration, (g) housing, (h) debt, (i) benefits and (j) education in each year since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: The information requested in these PQs has been requested by Legal Aid Agency case category, however published statistics are available by HM Courts & Tribunals Service jurisdictions. Data on case volumes in the different jurisdictions are included in the publications at the following links: Criminal courts: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2018 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/647588/ccsq-tables-q2-2017.xlsx Table M1 provides data on receipts, disposals and outstanding criminal cases in the magistrates' courts. Table C1 includes data on receipts, disposals and outstanding criminal cases in the Crown Court. Civil courts:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-justice-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2018 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/738421/civil-justice-stats-main-tables-Apr-Jun-2018.xlsx Table 1.1 in the above provides data on county court case volumes in England and Wales. Family Courts:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2018 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/745346/Family_Court_Tables__Apr_to_Jun_2018_.ods Table 1 in the above provides data on cases starting and concluding in Family courts in England and Wales Tribunals: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2018 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/740031/Tribunals_Main_Tables_Q1_201819.ods Table S_1 in the above provides the annual total number of receipts, disposals and caseload outstanding by tribunal jurisdiction.

Legal Representation

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people with mental health issues have represented themselves in court since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: The department does not hold the data requested as we do not record ‘mental health issues’ either in the administrative data or on files held locally at courts. In respect of the latest published statistics regarding defendants or parties with no (or unknown) representation, I refer the honourable member to the answer that I have given in PQ197612.

Legal Aid Scheme

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the number of people turned away from legal aid providers since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: No particular information is captured by the Legal Aid Agency to record those instances where individuals seeking legally aided advice and assistance did not receive it as a result of no application being made by a legal aid provider. Decisions as to whether or not an individual is eligible for legal help are delegated to the individual provider.

Legal Representation: Ethnic Groups

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) women, (b) men and (c) people of BAME background represented themselves in court in each (i) year and (ii) quarter since 2012.

Lucy Frazer: The information requested would only be available at disproportionate cost. HMCTS holds some information for individuals who come before the courts with no (or unknown) representation but it is not possible to determine self-representation from the administrative data available. Recording of sex and BAME characteristics for the purposes of administering activity in the courts differs across jurisdictions. A full response would only be available through local court records at disproportionate cost. Where available, data on the number of cases with and without representation is published in the department’s quarterly court statistics. Links to the latest statistics are included in the answer to PQ197612.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons: Meetings

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times Her Majesty's Prisons Inspectorates of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland met in 2017.

Rory Stewart: The three Inspectorates are members of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) and as such participated in two NPM business meetings in 2017. In addition, the Chief Inspector for England & Wales and the Chief Inspector for Scotland were part of a NPM Steering Group which met on three occasions in 2017. On a fourth occasion, membership included the Chief Inspector for England & Wales and a member of the Criminal Justice Inspectorate for Northern Ireland (CJINI).

Prisons: Unmanned Air Vehicles

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) confiscated drones and (b) persons prosecuted for the illegal use of a drone in the vicinity of a prison in the last two years.

Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Television: Licensing

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of  the number of custodial sentences given for non-payment of the BBC licence fee in each of the last three years.

Rory Stewart: The maximum penalty for television license fee evasion is a Level 3 fine, so a custodial sentence may not be imposed for this offence. In 2017 fines accounted for 99.5% of sentencing outcomes for television license fee evasion. Where offenders fail to pay fines, the courts have a range of enforcement powers, including, in the last resort, imprisonment of the offender.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of appeals to the tribunals service for claimants living in (a) Ashfield, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England which related to (i) personal independence payment, (ii) employment and support allowance and (iii) universal credit were successful (A) in 2017-18 and (B) since April 2018.

Lucy Frazer: Latest figures indicate that since PIP was introduced, 3.5 million decisions have been made up to June 2018, and of these 9% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned at tribunals. For ESA, 3.5m ESA (post Work Capability Assessment) decisions have been made between April 2014 and March 2018 and of these, 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned at tribunals.Information about the volumes and outcomes of appeals - including (i) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and (ii) Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) - to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS) is published at:www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics. SSCS appeals are listed into the hearing venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. The published data (which can be viewed at the link above) provide information about the outcomes of PIP and ESA appeals for hearing venues covering (a) Ashfield, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) England for (A) 2017-18 and (B) for the period April to June 2018, the latest period for which data are available. The table below contains the requested information for (iii) Universal Credit (UC): Proportion1 of UC appeals decided in favour of the appellant  Chesterfield 2Nottinghamshire 3England2018_2019 Q1 4~54%54%2017_2018~32%48% Notes:1. Proportion based on the number of cases found in favour of the appellant at a tribunal hearing as a percentage of the cases heard at a tribunal hearing.2. and 3. SSCS appeals are normally registered to the venue nearest to the appellant’s home address. We cannot retrieve data based on the appellant’s actual address, but can produce reports detailing the numbers of cases that were dealt with at one of our regional centres or heard at a specific venue. For those living in Ashfield that would be our Chesterfield venue and for those living in Nottinghamshire either our Chesterfield, Lincoln or Nottingham venues.4. Provisional, in line with published data.~ Equates to a value of fewer than five.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available.These data may differ slightly from those in the published statistics as these data were run on a different date.

Treasury

Hotels and Tourist Attractions: VAT

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits for the tourism industry of a reduction in VAT on hotels and tourist attractions.

Mel Stride: The government explored the impact of VAT on the tourism industry in its recent call for evidence, in the context of a focus on Northern Ireland. The government published its response at Budget 2018. In light of the legal restrictions on VAT devolution and the fiscal implications of reform on a UK wide reform, the government will not be making a change at this time. This is a complex issue, affecting an important source of revenue for the Exchequer and the government will continue to analyse the evidence and receive representations, in order to keep these issues under close review.

Economic Situation

Tom Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has made an assessment of the accuracy of the findings of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research report entitled The Economic Effects of the Government’s Proposed Brexit Deal, published on 26 November 2018.

Tom Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has made an assessment of the accuracy of the findings of the UK in a Changing Europe report entitled The economic consequences of the Brexit deal, published on 27 November 2018.

John Glen: The Government has not assessed the accuracy of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and UK In a Changing Europe & The Centre for Economic Performance (UKCE/ CEP) reports. NIESR and UKCE/ CEP are independent organisations. Their analysis of the UK economy represents their own views.

Tax Avoidance

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Real Time Information system on the recording of IR35 for employees for tax purposes.

Mel Stride: HMRC began the phased introduction of Real Time Information (RTI) in 2012. Under RTI, information about tax and other deductions under the PAYE system is transmitted to HMRC by the employer every time an employee is paid. Since April 2014 all employers have been required to report in real time with 1.9 million schemes covering 48 million employees now reporting through RTI. HMRC’s analysis of PAYE data, submitted through RTI, for the first 12 months since April 2017 indicates the reform to the off-payroll working rules (often known as IR35) in the public sector has raised an additional £550 million in income tax and NICs in its first year. RTI is a proven and effective tool for the monitoring of PAYE data including those public sector engagements to which the off-payroll working rules apply.

EU Aid: Ethiopia

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations his Department has made at EU level for the EU to agree to the Policy Coherence for Development set out in the Addis Ababa principles.

Mel Stride: No representations have been made at EU level - however the UK, along with the EU and other members of the G20, announced its support of the Addis Tax Initiative principles in 2016. The G20 recently reaffirmed its commitment to the tax for development agenda at the Summit in Buenos Aires last week.

Treasury: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many meetings he had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 September and 30 November 2018.

Elizabeth Truss: HM Treasury is committed to ensuring that we access the very best scientific expertise. The Director for the Enterprise and Growth Unit, who is responsible for public science funding, acts as HM Treasury’s Chief Scientific Adviser and meets with the Chancellor of the Exchequer regularly. The Chancellor also met with the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and leaders of the National Academies on 26 November.

Brexit

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2018 to Question 194204 on Brexit and with reference to paragraph 4.111 of the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and Fiscal Outlook published in October 2018, what proportion of the £400 million underspend relates to the UK leaving the EU.

Elizabeth Truss: On 13 March 2018, the Treasury confirmed allocations of c.£1.6bn to departments. A full breakdown of the allocation can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on 13 March https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/.The Economic and Fiscal Outlook is produced by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). As part of their fiscal forecast they take a judgement on how much departments will underspend on aggregate DEL spending. Further information on how the OBR reach their judgement is available at https://obr.uk/forecasts-in-depth/tax-by-tax-spend-by-spend/departmental-expenditure-limits/.

EU Budget

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2018 to Question 194212, on EU Budget, what estimate his Department has made of the sum in (a) pounds sterling and (b) euros of the maximum amount of the potential (i) financial settlement under the provisions in Article 143 and Article 146 and (ii) any additional amounts payable to the EU under the proposed Withdrawal Agreement.

John Glen: The UK’s estimated maximum liability attributed to financial operations guaranteed through the EU budget (Article 143 and 147) are reported within the Government’s Consolidated Fund Account annual publication, page 12 to 14. The Consolidated Fund may also be required to settle any liabilities arising from changes in legislation, regulation and funding arrangements resulting from EU exit on behalf of UK Government where these are not covered by other Government departments. This is disclosed as an unquantifiable remote contingent liability in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Flags

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has displayed county flags to commemorate annual county days at its Marsham Street building in 2018.

James Brokenshire: Commemorating county days forms an important part of our nation’s rich and historic heritage and it is only right that county days should be celebrated by communities across our great nation.The Department does not routinely display county flags and has not displayed any this year. I am, however, happy to consider individual requests from Hon Members to display county flags for their respective counties, on county days.The hon Member will be pleased to know my Department amended planning regulations to allow local and county flags to be flown by individuals without planning permission, and published a plain English guide to flying flags.A copy of the guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flying-flags-a-plain-english-guide.

Sleeping Rough: Care Leavers

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 188024 on Care Leavers: Rough Sleeping, if he will make it his policy to record statistics on whether or not people sleeping rough have spent time in foster care.

James Brokenshire: In April 2018 my Department introduced a new case-level data collection called H-CLIC (Homelessness Case Level Information Collection). This will give local authorities and Government more information regarding homelessness and those presenting as homeless, including their support needs, for example, if they have been in care and slept rough.

Private Rented Housing: Tenancy Agreements

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on the introduction of three-year tenancies for families in the private rented sector.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Government is committed to protecting the rights of tenants and giving them more security.We recently consulted on ways to overcome the barriers to landlords offering longer, more secure tenancies in the private rented sector. We sought views on a three year longer tenancy model with a six-month break clause and asked for views on its viability, and how it could be implemented.We have not made any policy decisions about tenancy length or how our proposed model will be implemented. We are currently analysing responses and this work will inform any next steps of how we can support landlords to offer more secure tenancies. We expect to respond to the consultation, setting out next steps, shortly.In the meantime, we have published a model tenancy agreement which landlords and tenants can use for free as the basis for longer, family friendly tenancies.

Community Housing Fund

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will hold discussions with the Chancellor on (a) extending the Community Housing Fund for the whole of the next five-year Spending Review period and (b) allowing unspent money from the current Fund to rollover; and if he will make a statement.

Kit Malthouse: The Community Housing Fund is currently scheduled to close in March 2020. The question as to whether the Fund should be extended, or the annual funding profile carried forward, will be given due consideration during the preparations for the next Spending Review, which will take place next year.The Government recognises that the community-led housing sector offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across England. In addition to helping increase the rate of delivery of new housing, it will help deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction, and sustaining local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community enables the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not be brought forward through speculative development.

Social Services: Children

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the resources required for local authority children's services, care services and care leaver services effectively to implement the national protocol on reducing the unnecessary criminalisation of looked-after children and care leavers.

Rishi Sunak: The national protocol on reducing criminalisation of looked after children and care leavers sets out best practice. Implementing the protocol is voluntary; it does not place any new statutory burdens on local authorities.The protocol has been developed with leaders from across the children’s social care, health and criminal justice sectors and endorsed as a positive step forward for children and young people and the relevant professionals working with them.

Right to Buy Scheme: Greater Manchester

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many social housing properties have been sold in each constituency in Greater Manchester under right to buy in each year between 2010 and 2018; and how many of those properties have been replaced by (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations.

Kit Malthouse: Information on the sale and supply of social and affordable housing is not disaggregated to constituency level.Information on the sale of social homes under the Right to Buy by lower-tier or unitary local authority can be found in Table 691 of the Live Tables on Social Housing Sales, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-social-housing-sales.Information on the sale of preserved right to buy by housing associations can be found in Homes England Statistical Data Return Stock Balance sheet https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistical-data-return-statistical-releases but this information is presented by housing association not by local authority.Information on the total supply of new affordable housing by lower-tier or unitary authority since 2015-16 can be found in Table 1008C of the Live Tables on Affordable Housing Supply, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply.Figures new supply delivered by housing associations and local authorities for the last three years are included in Live Table 1011. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply.

Leasehold: Reform

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to publish a formal response to his Department's consultation on implementing reforms to the leasehold system, which closed on 26 November 2018.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Department’s consultation, “Implementing reforms to the leasehold system” closed on 26 November. It set out how the Government intends to tackle excessive and unjustifiable practices in the leasehold system. We received almost 1300 responses, which we are currently analysing, and plan to publish the Government response in due course.

Homelessness

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to publish statutory homelessness statistics in December 2018.

James Brokenshire: The number of statutory homeless people in England, from April to June 2018, will be published in December 2018.

Temporary Accommodation

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) families with children and (b) children were placed in temporary accommodation in another local authority area in the most recent period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: We do not collect this information. However, figures for the number of total households in temporary accommodation in another local authority district are published in live table 775 of the Statutory Homelessness and Prevention and Relief publication, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Emma Dent Coad: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether officials from his Department have met with representatives of the insurance industry on limiting liability exposure after the Grenfell Tower fire.

Kit Malthouse: Officials from my department have had no meetings with the insurance industry to discuss limiting liability exposure.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Administration of Justice

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the planned timescale is for the armed services justice review to (a) be completed and (b) made public; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The review of the Service Justice System is under way, led by His Honour Shaun Lyons, and is due to report to Defence Ministers by the end of February 2019. Once the review is complete, we will consider its recommendations and take a decision about publication.

Ministry of Defence: Leidos

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what sums his Department has paid to Leidos to operate the logistics, commodities and services transformation programme in each year since 2015.

Stuart Andrew: The sums that the Department has paid Leidos (Europe) to operate the Logistics, Commodities and Services Transformation programme are as follows: Year£million (ex-VAT)2015-16892016-172682017-183262018-19253 The figures for 2018-19 cover the period 1 April 2018 to 30 November 2018.

Defence Equipment: Procurement

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of the affordability gap in the Equipment Plan 2017-2027.

Stuart Andrew: The Equipment Plan financial summary 2017-2027 set out the Department's plans for spending on equipment procurement and support in the 10-years from 2017-18 as at April 2017. The Department successfully delivered the first year of this plan within budget, as presented in the Department's annual report and accounts 2017-18. We reported our latest estimate of the affordability of the Equipment Plan in the Defence Equipment Plan financial summary 2018, published on 5 November 2018. Our central estimate of the forecast cost variance to budget was £7.0 billion over the 10 years from 2018-19, on base cost of £193.3 billion, which includes the remaining nine years of the Equipment Plan 2017-2027 period.

Navy: Radiation Exposure

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether radiation checks are carried out on submariners at the end of a tour of duty.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: All Royal Navy submariners wear occupational dosimeters while serving on submarines and assessments of occupational radiation exposure are routinely carried out for all submariners employed on operational submarines. This is as required by regulation 36 of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017, which are available at:http://www.hse.gov.uk/radiation/ionising/

EU Defence Policy

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which European Union Permanent Structured Cooperation projects the UK plans to participate in after the UK leaves the EU.

Mark Lancaster: The UK has not joined Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), but recognises its potential to support increased defence investment in Europe and the development of capabilities that contribute to NATO. The Government is scrutinising the current list of PESCO projects to identify which of those we might have an interest in, or be able to add value to, as a third country. Our future participation is subject to the rules governing third country access that are still being negotiated by PESCO Participating Member States.

Galileo System: Security

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the Government concluded that it would not be in the UK’s security interests to seek to use the secure aspects of the Galileo satellite system.

Stuart Andrew: The UK remains absolutely committed to European security. However, security-critical military applications require the greatest level of assurance that they will work as needed. The stance taken by the EU does not meet our security needs, and since January 2018 they have excluded UK companies from participating in the security elements of the programme, pre-empting and prejudicing negotiations and limiting the possibility of retaining the necessary level of assurance. This leaves us no alternative but to rule out military and critical national infrastructure use of the secure aspects of Galileo. We have asked the UK’s world-leading space and cryptography industries to develop plans for a UK system which fully meets our security requirements.

Afghanistan: Parachute Regiment

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Parachute Regiment personnel have been deployed to Afghanistan in a combat role.

Mark Lancaster: Since 1 January 2015, the UK has been part of NATO's Resolute Support Mission which is a non-combat mission to Train, Advise and Assist Afghan security institutions and the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF). The Parachute Regiment currently contribute personnel to the Kabul Security force (KSF) under this mission. The KSF's primary role is to secure and enable the mentoring and training activity by the international community. The KSF also mentors parts of the ANDSF directly.

Saudi Arabia: Military Alliances

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what joint military operations the UK armed forces plans to undertake with Saudi Arabia.

Mark Lancaster: The UK Armed Forces have no plans for joint military operations with Saudi Arabia.

HMS Ambush: Repairs and Maintenance

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost of repairs to HMS Ambush was as a result of that submarine's collision with a merchant vessel off Gibraltar in July 2016.

Stuart Andrew: The costs of repair to HMS AMBUSH following the collision off Gibraltar in July 2016 can be found in the Ministry of Defence's 2017-18 Annual Report and Accounts available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-defence-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018

HMS Victorious: Repairs and Maintenance

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish his Department's decision on a second refit for HMS Victorious.

Stuart Andrew: It is UK policy that we do not comment on matters relating to submarine activity or operations.I refer the hon. Member to the written statement regarding the decision not to refuel HMS Victorious, made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence, on 5 November 2018 (HCWS1065).



HCWS1065 - Refuel of HMS Victorious
(Word Document, 22.03 KB)

AWE

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 20228 on AWE, what his most recent estimate is of the (a) anticipated out-turn cost and (b) projected in-service date of each of the new build projects in the Atomic Weapons Establishment Site Development Context Plan.

Stuart Andrew: The tables below show the approved costs and in-service dates of the new build projects listed in the Atomic Weapons Establishment Site Development Context Plan (SDCP). In-service dates are shown in bandings to avoid prejudice to national security and defence. Costs for planned projects are subject to approval. Table 1 – Approved new build projects. Ongoing projectsFunctionIn-Service PeriodApproved costWarhead assembly/disassembly – MensaManufacturing/ production2023£1.8 billionUranium components – PegasusManufacturing/ productionRequirement under consideration£634 million  Table 2 – Planned projects not yet approved. Ongoing projectsFunctionIn-Service PeriodSalts Processing - OctansTesting/research2020-25Initiator system manufacture-TaurusManufacturing/production2025-30Large Scale formulations-ScorpiusManufacturing/production2030-40Depleted Uranium FacilityManufacturing/production2020-25Assembly for Trials-ColumbaTesting/research2030-35High Explosive Climatic TrialsTesting/research2030-35 Four of the projects previously listed are no longer included, as it is now planned to use the existing facilities. These are Small Scale Formulations (Cepheus), New Plutonium Facility, Non-Metallics and Materials (Libra) and Chemical Processing (Astra).Planned new build projects now also include the Hub, a testing/research facility to be brought into service over the period 2020 – 2025.

Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator: Annual Reports

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the timeframe is for the (a) completion and (b) publication of the annual assurance report for the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator for 2017-18.

Stuart Andrew: The Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator report for 2017-18 is complete. With regard to its publication, I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor gave to the hon. Member for Leeds North East (Fabian Hamilton) on 3 July 2018 to Question 157649.



157649 - MOD - Nuclear weapons; safety
(Word Document, 22.53 KB)

Members: Correspondence

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2018 to Question 157650 on Nuclear Weapons: Safety, when he plans to write to the hon. Member for Leeds North East with the requested information.

Stuart Andrew: I wrote to the hon. Member on 20 August 2018 and a copy of my letter was placed in the Library of the House (Deposit ref: DEP2018-0862).A copy of my letter is attached.



157650 - Follow up letter on Nuclear weapons
(PDF Document, 121.41 KB)

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have waited three months or longer for a work capability assessment after their completed UC50 form has been received by the Health Assessment Advisory Service in the latest period for which figures are available.

Sarah Newton: The information requested is not held for all assessments, however, data can be provided in relation to the number of face to face assessments undertaken. In October 2018, 14,356 Universal Credit claimants had their initial Work Capability Assessment (WCA) completed by face to face assessment. Of these, 703 (less than 5%) waited 3 months or longer following the date from which they returned their UC50 form. There are a number of reasons for a delay to an assessment including non-attendance and cancellation of the appointment by the claimant. Whilst claimants are waiting for their work capability assessment decision, they continue to receive their standard allowance of Universal Credit, providing they continue to meet the requirements for a claim to benefit.

Universal Credit: Housing

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claimants receiving the housing element of universal credit are also claiming the state pension.

Justin Tomlinson: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 27 November 2018.The correct answer should have been:

The table gives the estimated number of households receiving the Housing Element of Universal Credit in Great Britain, May 2018. The notes should be read in conjunction with the information provided in the table. Estimated number of households in payment and receiving the Housing Element of Universal Credit in Great Britain, May 2018Total471,800425,400Claiming State Pension200 Source: Household on Universal Credit dataset and Work and Pensions Longitudinal Survey. Notes:The figures are derived from unpublished information and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred. Individual figures may not add up to the total due to rounding.A count date of the second Thursday of the month is used when calculating the statistics for households on Universal Credit.Further information on the background and methodology for Universal Credit can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/739399/universal-credit-statistics-background-methodology.pdf

Justin Tomlinson: The table gives the estimated number of households receiving the Housing Element of Universal Credit in Great Britain, May 2018. The notes should be read in conjunction with the information provided in the table. Estimated number of households in payment and receiving the Housing Element of Universal Credit in Great Britain, May 2018Total471,800425,400Claiming State Pension200 Source: Household on Universal Credit dataset and Work and Pensions Longitudinal Survey. Notes:The figures are derived from unpublished information and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred. Individual figures may not add up to the total due to rounding.A count date of the second Thursday of the month is used when calculating the statistics for households on Universal Credit.Further information on the background and methodology for Universal Credit can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/739399/universal-credit-statistics-background-methodology.pdf

Carer's Allowance: Overpayments

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of overpayment of Carers Allowance have been taken to court in each of the last five years.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of overpayment of carers allowance have been taken to court under the Proceeds of Crime Act for each of the last five years.

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of overpayment of carers allowance are currently listed before the courts.

Justin Tomlinson: Holding answer received on 27 November 2018



The requested information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Carer's Allowance: Overpayments

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been charged in penalties for overpayment of carers allowance in each of the last five years.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has two different financial penalties that can be imposed. The first is the Civil Penalty. Where our enquiries show that a claimant has failed to provide accurate information as part of their benefit claim or in connection with an award of benefit, they have not taken reasonable steps to correct the error and their action has resulted in an overpayment of over £65, DWP currently charges a £50 Civil Penalty.Financial YearMonetary value of Civil Penalties2014/2015£216,4502015/2016£356,5502016/2017£463,2002017/2018£427,7502018 YTD£330,400The Second type of financial penalty is the Administrative Penalty, which may be offered to a person as an alternative to prosecution. Currently the minimum amount of the Administrative Penalty is £350 or 50% of the recoverable overpayment, whichever is greater, up to a maximum of £5,000. It is not possible to provide the total value of administrative penalties imposed by DWP in the last 5 years as this information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Carer's Allowance: Overpayments

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of overpayment of Carers Allowance her Department is pursuing; and of those cases how many relate to (a) 51 or fewer, (b) 52 to 103, (c) 104 to 155, (d) 156 to 207, (e) 208 to 259, (f) 260 to 311, (g) 312 to 363 and (h) 364 or more weeks of overpayment.

Justin Tomlinson: Holding answer received on 27 November 2018



Data shows that we are currently pursuing 69,609 Carer’s Allowance overpayments. However, not all these debts are currently in recovery as we can only recover one benefit debt at a time. The information requested relating to the number of weeks of overpayment is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to take account of 53-week years in the provision of universal credit.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 03 December 2018



I refer the hon. Member to Question 196906 on 3 December 2018.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of enabling parents to pursue (a) child maintenance arrears and (b) arrears transferred from the Child Support Agency under through the legal system.

Justin Tomlinson: The Child Maintenance Service has a wide range of strong enforcement powers, including applying to the court to remove a non-paying parent’s driving licence, order the sale of property, commit them to prison, or disqualify them from holding or obtaining a passport. There is a longstanding legal position that a permanent arrangement cannot be ordered by a court as part of any settlement action in respect of child maintenance payments. The statutory child maintenance system was established because court outcomes for families were frequently inconsistent. There is little merit in enabling parents to pursue arrears through the court system which is inevitably adversarial, costly and often a slow process which many clients may be unable to afford.

Children: Maintenance

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken to issue payments to the receiving parent obtained by Child Maintenance Service as a result of a deduction of earnings order has been in 2018.

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken to issue payments to the receiving parent obtained by Child Support Agency as a result of deduction of earnings orders was during the period 2013-2018.

Justin Tomlinson: Deduction from Earning Orders/Requests allow the Child Maintenance Service to collect child maintenance directly from a Paying Parents employer. The money is paid directly from the parents wages to the Child Maintenance Service who then pass the money on to the Receiving Parent. The department does not record information on the time taken to issue payments to the receiving parents as a result of a deduction from earnings order.

Children: Maintenance

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints have been received by the Child Maintenance Service as a result of delayed payments issued via deduction of earnings orders in each year for which information is available.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department does not have specific sub-categories of complaints relating to deduction of earnings orders (DEOs). The total number of complaints are published in table 17 of the Child Maintenance Service Statistics available on line at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-august-2013-to-june-2018-experimental.

Children: Maintenance

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) longest and (b) shortest time scales were for issuing payments to receiving parents through deduction of earnings orders made by the Child Maintenance Service in 2018.

Justin Tomlinson: Deduction from Earning Orders/Requests allow the Child Maintenance Service to collect child maintenance directly from a Paying Parents employer. The money is paid directly from the parents wages to the Child Maintenance Service who then pass the money on to the Receiving Parent. The department does not record information on the time taken to issue payments to the receiving parents as a result of a deduction from earnings order.

Social Security Benefits: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of (a) personal independence payment and (b) employment and support allowance in Ashfield constituency were (i) successful and (ii) unsuccessful in appeals in relation to their entitlement to those benefits in (A) 2017-18 and (B) since April 2018.

Sarah Newton: Typically the proportion of PIP appeals overturned in the Ashfield Constituency as a percentage of initial decisions is 5% Since PIP was introduced 3.5m decisions have been made nationally up to June 2018, of these 9% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned. The table below provides information on successful and unsuccessful appeals for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in the Ashfield constituency. Table 1: PIP Appeals completed by outcome and period of clearance - Ashfield Constituency   Decision maintainedDecision overturnedPercentage overturned  2017/18305063%  April to June 2018102067%These figures include all PIP appeals; so they will contain appeals where claimants appealed for a higher PIP award as well as those appeals against a disallowance decision. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Appeals data taken from the DWP PIP computer system’s management information. Therefore this appeal data may differ from that held by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics. The Parliamentary Constituency geography relates to the origin of the claim (i.e. derived from claimant’s postcode) rather than the location of where the tribunal was. Decisions overturned at appeal may include a number of appeals that have been lapsed (which is where DWP changed the decision after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at Tribunal). Information on ESA appeal outcomes by claim start date and Parliamentary Constituency is available on Stat-Xplore under “ESA Work Capability Assessments”. https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html Between April 2014 and March 2018, 3.5m ESA (post WCA) decisions have been made nationally, of these 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned. The Ministry of Justice publish a Tribunal Statistics SSCS CSV file which provides information on the number of PIP and ESA appeals and their outcome by tribunal venue. These statistics are based on the tribunal venue rather than origin of the claim. The CSV file can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2018

Post Office Card Account

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of claimants of (a) disabled social security payments and (b) pensions who have payments made into a Post Office Account.

Guy Opperman: The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to maintain Post Office card accounts until 2021, to ensure that customers can continue to access their benefits and pensions in this way. At October 2018 there were just under 1.2m active Post Office card accounts. In line with our wider policy on financial inclusion, we have always made it clear that payment into a bank, building society or credit union is the preferred way for all benefits to be paid. The information requested about the number of disabled social security and pension recipients is not available.

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 192729 on Universal Credit, what were the numbers of claimants represented by the percentage terms set out in that answer.

Alok Sharma: The information requested (relating to claims due their first payment in July 2018) is provided in the table below:  Within 5 weeks of payment due date6-10 weeks after payment due dateMore than 10 weeks after payment due dateReceived Payment in Full94.3% (72,000 claims)3.1% (2,000 claims)2.6% (2,000 claims)Received a Partial Payment98.6% (75,000 claims)1.0% (1,000 claims)0.4% (0 claims – to nearest 1,000) The Department’s analysis of Universal Credit payment timeliness is based on the claim level, rather than the claimant level.The number of claims has been rounded to the nearest 1,000. In many cases where full payment is not made on time, it is due to unresolved issues such as: claimants not accepting their Claimant Commitment or passing identity checks, satisfying the Habitual Residency Test, or having outstanding verification issues, such as housing costs and self-employed earnings.

Unemployment: Females

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the reasons for the increased number of economically inactive young women over the last 18 months; and if she will make a statement.

Alok Sharma: The Department has not made an assessment. The Office for National Statistics use the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS) to provide estimates of employment, unemployment and inactivity in the UK. In July-September 2018, it is estimated that nearly 1.4 million 16-24 year-old women were economically inactive; with the majority (just over 1 million, and around 70%) of inactive 16-24 year-old women in full-time education.

Dichloromethane

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what quantities of the chemical Dichloromethane have been purchased with the permission of the Health and Safety Executive since 3 January 2017.

Sarah Newton: None. Purchasers of the chemical Dichloromethane are not required to seek the permission of the Health and Safety Executive to do so.

Dichloromethane: Health Hazards

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of workers falling ill after contact with the chemical Dichloromethane were reported in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017.

Sarah Newton: The number of cases reported to the Health and Safety Executive as incidents that involved exposure to Dichloromethane (DCM), or Methylene Chloride (an alternative name for this chemical) are as follows: (a) 2015 – Two cases: One fatality; one person suffering an allergic reaction to a spillage in the process using DCM. (b) 2016 – Two cases: One person overcome by fumes while cleaning using DCM on a cloth; one person exposed to substance containing DCM when decanting chemicals resulting in chemical burns to face, chest and stomach. (c) 2017- One case: One fatality.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Animals: Exports

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many countries his Department will be required to reach an agreement with on acceptance of UK versions of export health certificates to allow the export of animals and animal products; and how many such agreements have been concluded to date.

David Rutley: If the UK leaves the EU in March 2019 with no deal in place, requirements for trade with third countries should not change. Our approach, tested with our largest trading partners, is to continue to use our existing export health certificates for an initial period. Defra is working to agree this with all destination countries.

Animals: Exports

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of additional veterinary surgeons that will be required for Export Health Certificate checks after the UK leaves the EU.

David Rutley: We expect an increase in demand for EHCs for animals and animal products of 150-300% which need to be signed off by an Official Vet or in some cases by an Environmental Health Officer. This wide range is due to the lack of clarity on what conditions the EU will apply. We have analysed the existing number of official vets. Over 6,000 have the general exports qualification. Nearly 700 have recently re-validated their qualifications for food products, who will be active in this field, many part time as part of a portfolio of veterinary activities. To support the veterinary profession, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons has agreed to the use of Certification Support Officers (CSOs). Official vets will still sign off EHCs. The new CSOs will handle some of the preparatory aspects of EHCs, freeing up the official vet’s time and capacity to provide the final assurance required. A training programme will be made available free of charge initially. In a no deal scenario the increase in demand for EHCs is likely to be closer to 150% due to the imposition of full tariffs and requirement to enter via border inspection posts. EU certificates are also simpler than many third country EHCs and there are likely to be some scale savings from bigger exporters. Taking into consideration all the above factors, we estimate the market will need increased capacity of about 50 full-time equivalent Official Vets. Our contacts with the veterinary businesses which provide certification services indicate that between the capacity they already have, the use of CSOs, and the ability to bring more vets into the market, it should be able to meet demand.

Circuses: Animal Welfare

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January to Question 120789, what plans he has to implement to the findings of the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 Post-Implementation Review, published by his Department on 26 February 2018.

David Rutley: I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave to the honourable member for Oxford West and Abingdon on 16 October 2018 to Question 176633.

Animal Products: Labelling

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that consumers are able to make informed decisions about the meat and diary products that they purchase.

David Rutley: We are committed to delivering informative food labelling to protect consumer interests and ensure that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. When the UK leaves the EU, rules on food labelling will be carried over into UK law by the Withdrawal Act and so, standards of information currently in place will remain. After EU Exit we have an opportunity to review all food labelling so that consumers have the information they need to have full confidence in the food they buy.

Fisheries

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to respond to the statement issued by the European Council on 25 November 2018 that the EU would seek a future fisheries agreement based on existing reciprocal access and quota shares.

George Eustice: As an independent coastal State, the UK will be leaving the Common Fisheries Policy and will control the resources in our waters. We have made it clear that we will negotiate a new fisheries agreement with the EU providing for annual negotiations on access to waters and a fairer share of fishing opportunities. This is consistent with international law and existing international precedents, such as the EU-Norway fisheries agreement.

Home Office

Police: Mental Health Services

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the co-ordination of policing and NHS staff on cases involving people with mental health problems.

Mr Nick Hurd: There are regular discussions between the Home Office and the Department for Health and Social Care on policing and mental health issues.In addition, Ministers from both departments jointly attend the Crisis Care Concordat Steering Group and the Emergency Services Collaboration and Interoperability Board, to discuss improved joint approaches between the emergency and health services.

Police: Mental Health Services

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has to ensure that all police officers are adequately trained to support people in mental health crises.

Mr Nick Hurd: Training on mental-ill health is integrated throughout the initial police learning programme which all new recruits must complete. The College of Policing sets the standards for training and professional development for police forces in England and Wales.The College refreshed its Authorised Professional Practice and accompanying training modules on mental health in 2016. It is the responsibility of Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, to ensure officers and police staff receive appropri-ate training and that they have regard to the Authorised Professional Practice when discharging their responsibilities.Several police forces have, in addition, developed their own mental health training modules in conjunction with local mental health partners

Refugees: Calais and Dunkirk

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with his French counterpart on the (a) accommodation, (b) medical treatment and (c) legal support for asylum claims which is offered to refugees in the Calais and Dunkirk regions.

Caroline Nokes: The Sandhurst Treaty, signed between the UK and France in January 2018, sets out a number of measures to strengthen our co-operation on our shared border. The Treaty presents a ‘whole of route’ approach to reducing the number of migrants making the dangerous and illegal journey to northern France and to manage the pressure on our shared border from those who do travel, underpinned by a £50 million funding package.Use of this funding is specifically towards improving access to French domestic asylum centres and ensuring that vulnerable migrants are provided with the support and care that they require. These centres provide essential medical, legal and other necessary support in secure accommodation.Our cooperation with France under the Treaty is overseen by the UK-FR Migration Committee, which presently meets on a quarterly basis. The Committee is attended by relevant operational and policy stakeholders from the British and French Governments. It ensures that our Governments are collaborating effectively and that the package of funding is spent in a way which most effectively (i) tackles illegal migration and (ii) provides support to the most vulnerable.

Refugees: Calais and Dunkirk

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the UK’s planned withdrawal from the EU on the level of the UK's collaboration with France to support refugees in Calais and Dunkirk.

Caroline Nokes: In working to combat illegal migration, our relationship with the French is governed by the Sandhurst Treaty, which was signed at the UK-France Summit in January 2018 by Theresa May and Emmuanuel Macron. This agreement served to complement and ensure both parties’ commitment to juxtaposed controls as set out in the Le Touqet Treaty, signed on 4th February 2003, and the Treaty of Canterbury, signed on 12th February 1986, which provided for the construction of the Channel Tunnel.We are committed to maintaining a close ongoing relationship with France to manage our shared border; this will not be impacted by our departure from the European Union on 29 March 2019 and we will continue to cooperate with France as set out in the Sandhurst Treaty.The Treaty includes provisions designed to ensure that the Dublin III Regulation is swiftly operated, in particular for unaccompanied asylum seeking children, and we will continue to work together to complete the transfer of unaccompanied minors agreed in accordance with national relocation schemes, such as section 67 of the United Kingdom Immigration Act 2016.

Home Office: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings he had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 September and 30 November 2018.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Secretary has met, Professor John Aston, the Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. During the period in question, The Home Secretary with him on two occasions.

Scotland Office

Equal Pay: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much money from the public purse was spent (a) producing and (b) promoting the Facebook advertisement entitled Closing the Gender Pay Gap.

David Mundell: This video was produced as one of a video series. The approximate cost of production for this individual video was not more than £1,000. The amount spent on promoting it to date on Facebook has been £311.46.

Equal Pay: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland,  what audience targeting filters were used for the Facebook advertisement entitled Closing the Gender Pay Gap.

David Mundell: This post was promoted to women in Scotland aged 18-65+.

Equal Pay: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, for what reason the Facebook advertisement entitled Closing the Gender Pay Gap does not appear in Facebook Ad Library as a political advertisement.

David Mundell: All the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland’s Facebook posts are made publicly available to general audiences in Scotland.The Office will comply fully with Facebook’s new Political Content Authorisation requirements.

Equal Pay: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, on what other platforms the Facebook advertisement entitled Closing the Gender Pay Gap was run.

David Mundell: This promotion also included Instagram placements.

Public Expenditure: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much money was spent from the public purse (a) producing and (b) promoting the Facebook advertisement entitled Scotland's public spending.

David Mundell: This animation was produced in-house and did not incur any production costs. The amount spent on promoting it to date on Facebook has been £129.78.

Public Expenditure: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what audience targeting filters were used for the Facebook advertisement entitled Scotland's public spending.

David Mundell: This post was promoted to audiences aged 18-65+ in Scotland.

Public Expenditure: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, for what reason the Facebook advertisement entitled Scotland's public spending does not appear in Facebook Ad Library as a political advertisement.

David Mundell: All the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland’s Facebook posts are made publicly available to general audiences in Scotland.The Office will comply fully with Facebook’s new Political Content Authorisation requirements.

Public Expenditure: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, on what other platforms the Facebook advertisement entitled Scotland's public spending was run.

David Mundell: A range of videos on public spending in Scotland have run on both Facebook and Twitter.

Land: Scotland

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2018 to Question 135627, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on land prices in rural areas throughout Scotland.

David Mundell: The recently published analysis of the effect of the UK leaving the EU demonstrates the UK Government’s continued commitment to undertaking intensive analytical work examining the UK economy. We have agreed a deal that delivers for all parts of the UK - every nation, region and sector would be stronger than under a no deal scenario.

Cabinet Office

Facebook: Advertising

Deidre Brock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much money from the public purse was spent (a) producing and (b) promoting the Facebook advertisement entitled The Brexit Deal explained.

Chloe Smith: The video cost £21,168.72 to produce. The Cabinet Office has spent £90,000 promoting the video on Facebook. Total annual government communications spend is circa £300m. This activity represents 0.03% of total spend for the year.

Facebook: Advertising

Deidre Brock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what other platforms the Facebook advertisement entitled The Brexit Deal explained was run.

Chloe Smith: The video also ran on Twitter.

Facebook: Advertising

Deidre Brock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what audience targeting filters were used for the Facebook advertisement entitled The Brexit Deal explained.

Chloe Smith: The video was targeted to all adults aged 18-65.

Public Sector: Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many spot checks on procurement documents have been carried out by the Public Procurement Review Service in the last 12 months.

Oliver Dowden: There have been 278 spot checks completed in the last 12 months.

Employment: Older People

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in the UK aged 70 or over were in (a) full-time and (b) part-time employment in 2017.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response 
(PDF Document, 66.67 KB)

Conflict, Stability and Security Fund: Civil Servants

Kate Osamor: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants are working on the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund; and in which Departments those civil servants are employed.

Mr David Lidington: The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) conducts an annual staffing audit, with the most recent in March 2018. This indicated that the CSSF employs 483 programme funded administrative staff. The largest proportion of staff (some 73%) are employed in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with others employed in the Department for International Development, Ministry of Defence, Home Office, National Crime Agency, Stabilisation Unit and the Department for Transport. The next annual staffing audit will take place in early 2019.

Committee on the Grant of Honours Decorations and Medals

Ian Blackford: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the decision was taken to re-open the Advisory Military Sub-Committee of the Honours and Decorations Committee.

Ian Blackford: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the decision was taken to re-open the Advisory Military Sub-Committee of the Honours and Decorations Committee.

Ian Blackford: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who took the decision to re-open the Advisory Military Sub-Committee of the Honours and Decorations Committee.

Chloe Smith: Both the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence have received requests from campaigners for either historic decisions on the award of medals to be reconsidered, or for new claims to be considered. It is for these reasons that the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals recommended to Her Majesty The Queen that the Advisory Military Sub-Committee be re-instituted earlier this year. Her Majesty graciously agreed to their request. Details of the Sub-Committee's independent membership and terms of reference will be announced by the Cabinet Office in due course

Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists: Standards

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if his Department will conduct a review of the performance of the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.

Chloe Smith: The Government is confident that the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists is effectively delivering upon its statutory responsibilities and working well in enacting the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014. The Registrar operates independently of Government and it is the responsibility of the Registrar to maintain the lobbying register and to ensure that consultant lobbyists are compliant with their statutory responsibility to declare on whose behalf they are lobbying.

Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists: Staff

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of staff shortages on the performance of the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.

Chloe Smith: The Government is confident that the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists is effectively delivering upon his statutory responsibilities and that the Office is working well in enacting the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014. The Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists operates independently of Government, and under the Transparency of Lobbying Act 2014, ‘may make arrangements with the Minister or other persons for staff to be seconded’ to the Office. The Government is confident that there are no staff shortages in the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists and that the current arrangements for staffing in the office are in line with the governing legislation.

Northern Ireland Office

Economic Situation: Northern Ireland

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of the proposed EU withdrawal agreement on the economy of Northern Ireland.

John Penrose: Details of this analysis was published by the Cabinet Office on 28 November 2018.

Northern Ireland Office: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many meetings she had with her Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 September and 30 November 2018.

John Penrose: The Northern Ireland Office does not have a Departmental Chief Scientific Adviser.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Lotteries: Licensing

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the average licensing costs for organisations with more than one society lottery licence.

Mims Davies: Gambling Commission licensing fees include application fees and annual fees, and vary depending on the type of licence required and the amount of proceeds per annum. One-off application fees range from £163 to £325 per licence, and annual fees from £348 to £1,458. My Department has not looked at average licensing costs of society lotteries holding multiple licences.

Culture: Nottinghamshire

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what funding his Department has allocated to arts and culture projects in Nottinghamshire in each of the last five years.

Michael Ellis: As outlined in the table, since April 2013, Arts Council England has invested almost £8.5 million in arts and culture projects in Nottinghamshire including regular funding to their National Portfolio Organisations, National Lottery Grants for the Arts, Project Grants and Strategic funding.   Nottinghamshire2013/20142014/20152015/20162016/20172017/20182018/2019National Portfolio Organisations£126,218£126,729---£300,000Music Education Hubs*£830,974£832,731£1,073,643£1,067,598£1,065,575£1,066,848Grants For The Arts/Project Grants£234,983£287,044£239,118£399,050£375,755£141,270Strategic/Other£ -£79,850£20,486£137,598£5,000£32,942Total£ 1,192,175£ 1,326,354£ 1,333,247£ 1,604,246£ 1,446,330£ 1,541,060  Alongside ACE funding, the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvements Fund provided £75,000 in 2017/18 for 'Accessible Exhibition at Newstead Abbey', Nottingham City Museums and Galleries. In addition, First Art (Creswell Heritage Trust) recently became one of six successful arts projects across England to receive a share of £5.5 million in the latest round of the Arts Council’s Creative People and Places funding programme. This funding will support First Art to continue its work taking arts and culture to local communities across Nottinghamshire.

World War I: War Memorials

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a dedicated UK-based memorial to mark the Mesopotamian campaign of the First World War.

Michael Ellis: It is important to remember that the fighting and loss of life continued in Mesopotamia beyond the Armistice of 1918. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Basra Memorial in Iraq commemorates the more than 40,500 members of Commonwealth forces who died during the Campaign and whose graves are not known. While the current instability in the region makes the work of the Commission challenging, the Government’s centenary programme did not include the development of new memorials. Traditionally, new memorials are funded by public subscription and the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire provides a highly fitting and appropriate location for new memorials of many kinds.

Attorney General

Knives: Crime

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Attorney General, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of knife related incidents that have not resulted in a successful prosecution in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK in each year since 2010.

Robert Buckland: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of cases relating to knife crime incidents that have not resulted in a successful prosecution. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.National figures on selected offences involving a knife or sharp instrument may be obtained from the Crime in England and Wales Bulletin Tables published by the Office of National Statistics.National figures on the numbers of prosecutions and outcomes for specific criminal offences including possession of weapons may be obtained from the official statistics published by the Ministry of Justice.Prosecutions for knife related incidents may be brought by way of Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 which provides for the offence of possession of a bladed or pointed article in a public place or Section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 which makes the possession of an offensive weapon in a public place an offence.The information held by CPS on such offences is limited to the number of offences in which a CPS prosecution was charged and which reached a first hearing in the Magistrates Court. The tables below show the number of these offences for England and Wales and the West Midlands CPS Area.Table 1 - England & Wales 2010-20112011-20122012-20132013-20142014-20152015-20162016-20172017-2018Criminal Justice Act 1988 { 139 }12,71712,64110,48311,09011,71213,26115,20416,619Prevention of Crime Act 1953 { 1 }12,38711,2729,4608,8469,0189,82110,78910,906Table 2 - West Midlands CPS Area 2010-20112011-20122012-20132013-20142014-20152015-20162016-20172017-2018Criminal Justice Act 1988 { 139 }1,1471,2591,0361,0781,1451,4551,6761,890Prevention of Crime Act 1953 { 1 }1,1231,0548228779149941,1581,183It should be noted that the figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It is often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence.